


The unexpected perks of braiding

by LadyKG



Series: Word Prompts [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, shisui likes to braid his hair, tenzo is a horrible flirt, that's literally it - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 02:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKG/pseuds/LadyKG
Summary: “Don’t you have somewhere else to be stupid?”“Not until four.”Word Prompt (Take 1).





	The unexpected perks of braiding

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be stupid?” Tenzo asks, facing away from Shisui as they sit on the edge of a training ground. Shisui had discovered his companion’s routine of coming here to practice his mokuton some weeks ago, and has made it a point to hang around whenever he isn’t on duty. (And sometimes when he is.)

“Not until four,” he hums happily, plucking another flower from the earth to weave into the braid he is making with Tenzo’s hair. The purple color goes so well with the shade of brown, and Shisui is more than happy to have an excuse to run his fingers through the locks.

“How’d you learn to braid?” The words are blurted out, and Tenzo’s shoulders tense after they are said. Shisui thinks he has stopped breathing all together.

“My mom and younger cousins,” he answer honestly. It’s not exactly a secret among his clan members. He braided his mom’s hair daily for years on end before ANBU took up his time and eventually their tradition fell apart altogether when she decided to cut her hair short.

“Oh,” Tenzo says, his shoulders losing their tension from before. That single words holding more relief than Shisui thought possible.

“Yeah,” he says, for lack of anything else, his fingers never stopping their ministrations. “It’s been a while though, so I’m a bit rusty.”

“Well, I think it looks fine.”

“You haven’t even seen it yet,” he huffs to help fight a rising blush, watching in interest as Tenzo makes an aborted motion that looks suspiciously like embarrassed fidgeting.

 

Apparently the braid really had looked nice, because the next time Shisui starts playing with his hair Tenzo moves less than normal and there are suspiciously more flowers in the clearing than when he arrived. He doesn’t bother questioning it out of fear that Tenzo won’t do it again.

The braid is more complex this time. Sporting little yellow flowers that remind him of summer and the color of his mom’s favorite yukata.

 

The third time it happens Shisui chatters away about a new dango shop opening up and how Itachi has been obviously trying to work his schedule around the opening day.

“You should have seen Fugaku’s face when he realized what his son was doing,” Shisui doesn’t bother holding in his snickers, “I wish I had my sharingan on at that moment. But Mikoto looked so happy to know he would do something like this that Fugaku can’t do anything, and oh man, Tenzo you should have _seen it._ Priceless. Truly priceless.”

He plucks a softly painted purple flower from the bushel that they are in, wondering absently why Tenzo would grow something so hard to weave into his hair.

 

The next time happens when that are on a missions and Tenzo doesn’t bother sparing the chakra to grow flowers, and Shisui doesn't think braiding them in will help them go unnoticed anyway.

Their teammates give them glancing looks but none say anything about this new ritual.

 

It takes him a lot longer to catch on than he would like. A lot longer and complaining to Itachi as they spar that Tenzo is growing flowers too big or oddly shaped to properly braid. But when he does he feels like a complete idiot. He supposes Tenzo would argue that he _is,_ in fact, a complete idiot and should probably get his head checked. But this is the same man who has been flirting with him through flowers for the past few months.

Yet, just because he knows doesn’t mean he knows how to handle knowing. Because is Tenzo went through all the trouble of being subtle he clearly doesn’t realize Shisui’s own feelings and a part of him really wants to take advantage of this knowledge. Another part of him reasons he shouldn’t and that as an adult and ANBU member he should act more appropriately mature regarding this matter.

He decides that knowing how Tenzo feels is just as difficult as not. And that if Tenzo wants to be subtle then Shisui will be too. (Even if Itachi likes to claim that the subtly gene has passed him over.)

 

It would have worked. Shisui stands by this. His ingenious plans would have worked if it wasn’t for a meddling ANBU team, a few too many drinks, and a confession he can only recall in hazy blotches outlined by oddly colored lights.

But he guesses it turned out fine in the end.

“I’m not braiding a rose into your hair,” he tells Tenzo flatly as he inspects the thorny plant that grew right before his eyes.

This earns him a decidedly uncalled for look. “They’re for you, idiot.”

Oh. Right. He so, totally, knew that. And he definitely doesn’t blush. Nope. There is no proof. (Besides, Tenzo blushes harder when Shisui finally reels him in for a kiss.)


End file.
